Rail fastening



R. P. CLARKSON 2,387,009 RAIL FASTENING Filed May 22, 1943 Oct. 16,1945.

- I INVENTOR.

Patented Oct. 16, 1945 BAIL FASTENING i 7: Ralph P. Clarkson, Milford,Conn.

Application May 22, 1943, Serial 438,019 4 Claims. (c1. 238-7349) Myinvention relates to rail fastenings and in particular to railfastenings which comprise a resilient clip fulcrumed on the tieplate andpressed on the rail by the action of a holding member which isinserted'in the present rail spike hole of the tieplate. The clip ispreferably a sheared plate with a round hole punching for the holdingmember which is,preferabl'y, a dog leg bolt, i. e-., a bolt having abent shank. One part of-the bolt shank is threadedand'the shank is ofrectangular section below :the threads and has an'overall dimension inone direction which is greater than that of the spike hole or otheropening into which it is tobe inserted from the top. In the otherdirection, the rectangular section of the bolt has a dimensionsubstantially that of a rail spike. j v many instances in present track,the base of the rail extends over the spike hole to a greater or lessextent and it is diflicult for a hook bolt inserted from the top withthe railin place to get suflicient'grip below the tieplate under therail in all instances met with along a stretch of laid rail with thevariations that occur or, if constructed to get'such a grip, it must beof reduce'dfsection or lie backwards at an angle or both, thus beinglimited in strength. I propose to provide a maximum of strength both ofthe holding bolt and of the clip and to provide the clip with sufiicientresiliency'without overloading the bolt 'andyet provide'a rail fasteningof universal application. 7

- In the case of the bolt, I provide a maximum section" through the useof a bent or dog leg shank such that the bolt may be inserted intothe-"present tieplate opening from the top and then set upright andbraced by the walls of the spike hole, at the same time bein g ofminimum length and thus least likely to bend through rail liftinginlwav'e motion after installation. More over, my preferred bolt is offull spike width and of'such" shape" that it may hook under any side ofth'e'spike opening. That is,-the bolt will hook under the back edge orthe side edge of the spike hole equally well as the front or rail edge,thus being of general utility, particularly effective and convenientwith tieplates having bottom ribs or waflle construction. p

In the case of the clip or plate spring, the bolt hole punching ismadej' preferably, as a round hole, thus upsetting;crystallizing ordistorting a minimum area around the hole and providing no sharpcorners, lines or shear drag along which breakage may take place at thispoint. Also, I prefer to form the'clip in such manner as to provide tworesilientarms, one 'of which is engaged by the bolt and the other by therail, there being yielding action between them for a portion of thelength of the clip, the arms being joined together at a point betweenthe fulcrumed back edge of the clip andthe point of 'applied boltpressure, the back or tieplate end of the clip being of relatively greatstifiness. 'B-ythis con- "struction it is possible tobring the point ofpressure'on the rail nearer'to the holding bolt and thus maintain a highrail pressure yet with a safe bolt pressure, as will be later apparent.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved rail fastener,simple and rugged in design, easy to manufacture and ofgeneralapplication to present track structure utilizing the standard spikeholes when the rail. spike is removed or omitted, or any similaropening, not necessarily at the edge of the rail.

Another object of my invention is to provide a rail fastenerwhichmaintains yielding vertical pressure on the rail of such magnitude as tofrictionally restrain longitudinal creeping of the rail without .unduestress in the fastener.

A'further object is to provide. a rail fastener in which the bolt is .ofmaximum adaptability and the clip .ofsuch nature as to give desirablerail pressures. without overstressof the bolt.

7 With the foregoing and other objects in View, as will be apparent tothose skilled in the art as the description proceeds, myinventionresides in the, combination and arrangement of-parts and in thedetailsof construction described in this specification and particularlypointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes maybe made in the. particular embodiment of the invention within the scopeof what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention. Iintend no limitation other than those of the claims whenfairlyinterpreted in' the light of the full disclosure and the presentstate of the art.

Referring now to the. accompanying drawing illustrative of my inventionand showing an em-' bodiment thereof at present preferred: 7 Fig. 1 isan elevational assembly View, fragmentary and partly in section, showingthe application ofa preferred. form of rail fastener embodying myinvention; Fig. 2 is a perspective sketch illustrative of the clip shownin Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a modification of the clip.of Fig. 2: Fig. 4 is a view, similar to that of,,Fig..1 showingtheapplicationof another form'. of clipwith thebolt of Fig. 1; Figsl5and6"are sideand front views, respective y.

of the holding member of Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a perspective sketch of amodification of the clip of Fig. 2; Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8of of Fig. 5; Fig. 9 is an elevational view similar to that of Fig. 1,showing the method of insertion of the bolt of Figs. 5 and 6 from thetop through the present spike hole of a tieplate; Fig. 10 is a viewsimilar to that of Fig. 1 showing the engagement of the holding bolt atthe side of the tieplate opening, the tieplate having interfering bottomribs, a modified fOrm Of clip being shown; Fig. 11 is a perspectivesketch of modified form of the clip of Fig. 1, using another 1' form ofholding member.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in all the views.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated (Fig. 1), a rail I isresting on and supported by a tieplate 9, in this instance shouldered,both rail and-tieplate being shown fragmentary. The usual spike opening8 is shown here adjacent to the rail; 'To clamp the rail to the tieplateand frictionally hold same a rail fastener is provided comprising aclip! and a'holding boltB positioned in the rail spike holeil, the bolt6 having a hook or lip portion engaging the underside of the tieplate 9;'Inthis assembly, a preferred clip 1, shown in detail in Fig. 2,;restsits rear or back end on the tieplate 9, thus providing a fulcrum for thepressure action of a bolt 6 when a nut 4, threaded thereon, is pulled upor, tightened. Clip Tis provided with a bolt opening 3, preferably around punching for the reasons set forth-above, said bolt openings beingmade in an arm 2 which is resiliently related to the remainder of theclip 6, particularly the forward or rail-bearing portion thereof I whichpresses upon the rail base.

Clip 1 is, in this instance, a bowed plate of resilient, material,preferably having a center portion struck up to form an arm} (Fig. 2)but it is shown that a similar arm 2a may be struck up from the side ofa clip In (Fig. 7) providing a resiliently .coacting rail arm la.Moreover, other forms of clips embodying my invention are shown as, forexample, a clip 13 (Fig. 3) in which the, tieplateend of the plate islaminated or folded upon itself for a portion of its length and thenseparated into a bolt pressure arm l2 and arail arm II; a clip 1b (Figs.10 and, 11) in which a bolt arm 21) may be downwardly struck and aresiliently coactingrail arm lb formed. Moreover, if desired, the boltopening of the clip may be punched with a dependent t0ngue l6 (Fig 12)whena clip 10 is to be used witha bolt 6a having a dimension less thanthat of the tieplate opening. Such tongue and bolt construction areshown and claimed in my Patent No. 2,203,624 of June 4, 1940. I

In the present invention a preferred characteristic of the clip is thedivision thereof into separate coacting resilientarms, one of which isprovided with an' opening for the holding member and lthe otherconstructed to bear on the'rail-base. In the clips illustrated theeffective length of the rail bearing arm is greater than that of thebolt arm and thus of greater resiliency, if of comparable section, thetwo arms being joined behind the bolt opening and fulcrumed at the backendof such joined portion on the tieplate. This construction may provideequal rail base pressure as that of an undivided clip l5 (Fig. 4)applied to a rail I ll and held by a bolt 6, equal or greater resiliencyof the rail arm but with less bolt pressure, as the rail pressure (Fig.l, for example) is applied to the rail nearer to the ed e of the railand thus closer to the bolt. The rail arm I (Fig. 1) may be of the sameeffective length from its rail contact point back to its junction withthe bolt pressure arm 2 as is the effective rail arm of clip I2 (Fig. 4)from its rail contact point tothepoint where it is held by-the nut 4.The ratio of the lever arms in the construction of Fig. 1, however, issuch that the bolt Pressure more nearly approximates that on the railthan "is the case in Fig. 4. Similar in this respect are theflclips ofFigs. 3, 7, 11, and 12, also.

Special mention is made also of the novel construction of the holdingbolt 6 having a width (Fig. 6) equivalent to that of a rail spike andprovidedwith a bent or dog leg shank (Fig. 5), the lower portion slopingat an angle to the threaded portion, resulting in offsetting the centerline of the threaded portion from the center line of the hole.

The upper face of the sloping portion of the shank is indented to form alip 5 to hook under the tieplate and at the same time to provide theadjacent spike hole bearing portion just above .the lip. The overallwidth of the bolt, shown in Fig. 4, is greater than that of the-spikehole by the amount of the projection of the hook. i Moreover,- bymaintaining the full thickness of the bent portion (Fig. 5) the flatback of the bolt is brought below the inside bend line and provides asubstantial bearing against'the side of the tieplate opening opposite tothe hook, whether it be the back of the spike hole (Fig. 1) or the side(Fig. 10), the latter arrangement being resorted to because of the ribsl4, M, on the under side of the-tieplate 9a.

Insertion of a bolt 6 into a spike hole 8' from the top requires (Fig.9) insertion of the lower dog leg with the threaded portion pushed overbut gradually straightening up as the lip 5 gets beyond the criticallower edge of the tieplate 9. The bolt is then brought into position(Figspl, 4, and 10), the clip slipped over the bolt, the nut threaded onand turned up to the desired pressure, normally of the order of 2500pounds on the rail.

The offset of thebolt away from the rail (Fig. 1) relativeto the nearposition of the usual hook bolt to the rail (Fig. 12) requires a greaterforce applied to the bolt to give the same rail pressure. Hence, forthis form of bolt (Figs. 5 and 6) to be most effective, it is desirableto use a clip with a short rail arm to more nearly equalize bolt andrail pressures. To shorten the rail arm of such a clip as I5 (Fig. 4)decreases'its flexibility under wave action of the rail and incidenttieplate bending. Thus clips of the construction shown in Figs. 1, 3, 7,11, for example, wherein the flexibility of the rail arm may bemaintained may be of particular value in combination with the bolt ofFigs. 5 and 6.

- What I claim is:

1. In a rail fastening device 'for resiliently clamping'a rail to atieplate characterized by the use of the regular tieplate spike hole'forthe holding member and theemployment of a plate type spring clip restingat its rear end on the tie' plate outwardly from the spike opening andat its front-end on the sloping base of the rail and thus tending tobend'the holding member away from the rail, a holding member ofsubstantially rail ke Width andof a shank thickness materially less thanthe corresponding spike hole .wall and that at the back side beingpositioned I to bear at the upper end of the opposite wall,

the portion of said holding member between said two fiat side portionswhen in operating position sloping at an angle across the spike hole toform a brace against the bending tendency of the spring clip, the centerline of said holding mem ber being offset from the center line of thespike hole, a portion of said holding member extending beneath andengaging the bottom of said tieplate.

2. A rail fastening for resiliently clamping a rail to a supportincluding a tieplate, said rail fastening comprising a resilient platemember fulcrumed at the back on said tieplate and resting at the fronton said rail, an arm punched from the body of said plate membertherebetween provided with an opening therethrough for the passage of aholding member, said punched arm being joined to said body behind saidopening away from the rail end and a holding member engaging saidsupport and so constructed and arranged as to flex said resilient armand thereby clamp said plate member down on the rail.

3. As an article of manufacture, a rail fastening element comprising aplate of resilient material having a rail-bearing end and provided withan arm punched from the body of said plate, said arm being provided withan opening for the passage of a holding member and joined to the body ofsaid plate behind said opening away from the rail-bearing end.

4. As an article of manufacture, a rail fastening element comprising aclip of resilient material provided with a rail-bearing end and atieplate-bearing portion, an arm punched from the body of said cliptherebetween and diverging from the rest of said clip and having an endfree to flex provided with an opening near said free end, said arm beingjoined to the body of said clip behind said opening away from therailbearing end.

RALPH P. CLARKSON.

